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Brain connectivity dynamics of reading and dyslexia : typical and perturbed reading networks in adults and children

University of British Columbia

Developmental dyslexia is a language-based learning disability characterized by impaired reading speed and accuracy, poor spelling, and poor decoding abilities, despite normal intelligence. Neuroimaging investigations have identified brain regions critical for reading; few studies, however, have characterized how those regions interact to form networks and how those networks are perturbed in individuals with dyslexia. Advances in electroencephalography (EEG) analysis techniques now allow for intricate examination of these networks by focusing on individual frequency bands that comprise the brain signals. This study used EEG across several experiments to examine theta- and gamma-band connectivity patterns—first in the brains of adults, and then in dyslexic and typically-developing children during reading tasks. I investigated: 1) the ways in which the reading networks of typical and dyslexic readers differ, and 2) whether targeted reading interventions reduce these differences over time. Results show that dyslexic children generated greater occipito-temporal connectivity at critical time points in response to words and word-like stimuli, as well as increased engagement of higher-level language areas even for stimuli lacking linguistic content (e.g. consonant strings). After six months, the networks of dyslexic readers resembled those of their typically-developing counterparts for simple orthographic processing, but continued to utilize existing alternative pathways when engaging in higher-level language processes (e.g. phonology). This suggests that performance improvements in dyslexic readers are not necessarily related to changes to the typical left-lateralization of reading networks. These findings are in line with existing frameworks of dyslexia, and highlight the value of connectivity measures in understanding the neural underpinnings of word reading.

Text

2018-08-27

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/66939

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/